By Meagan Wiseley – University of New Mexico, Talk Radio News Service

In a presentation Friday, President and CEO of the Institute For the Study of War Dr. Kimberly Kagan said that in order to accomplish President Barack Obama’s stated mission in Afghanistan, which is to defeat, dismantle and destroy al-Qaida, then the U.S. must continue counterterrorism strategies and implement a counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan.

Commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal’s assessment of the War in Afghanistan stated that “the mission requires a better application of existing assets, but it also requires additional resources.”

A report released Friday by ISW states that there are not currently enough forces in Afghanistan to execute a proper counterinsurgency strategy and, in addition to requiring more forces, the U.S. must prioritize it’s objectives within Afghanistan.

According to ISW, counterinsurgency must focus on “critical population centers” including the central Hemland River Valley, Kandahar City, Tarin Kowt, Khost, Paktia and the region known as Greater Paktia.

A Research Analyst at ISW, Jeffrey Dressler, presented his report on Securing Hemland and said, “a comprehensive population-centric counterinsurgency strategy is actually what’s needed to gain the initiative, to secure the population and then to defeat the insurgency. This is going to require additional resources, time and a united effort between Afghan forces and the international community in Helmand.”

The ISW report also stated that “coalition counterinsurgency operations must be coordinated and mutually-reinforcing to achieve decisive effects and prevent the enemy from fleeing during the operation, only to return to the area later.”

President Obama is currently reviewing the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and General McChrystal’s assessment.

By Meagan Wiseley – University of New Mexico, Talk Radio News Service

In a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Thursday, expert witnesses agreed that the U.S. should neither abandon Afghanistan or substantially increase U.S. military forces in Afghanistan in regard to a stable Pakistan.

Maleeha Lodhi, a former Pakistani Ambassador to the U.S. said, “a precipitous withdrawal would repeat the strategic mistake of the 1990s when the U.S. abandoned Afghanistan to the chaos that nurtured al-Qaida. Nor should the West risk being trapped in a Vietnam style quagmire, a war without end and with no guarantee of success.”

Steve Coll, President of the New America Foundation proposed a strategy that falls between withdrawal and militarization.

“It would make clear that the Taliban will never be permitted to take power by force in Kabul or major cities. It would seek and enforce stability in Afghan population centers, emphasize politics over combat, urban stability over rural patrolling, Afghan solutions over Western ones and it would incorporate Pakistan more directly into creative and persistent diplomatic efforts to stabilize Afghanistan and the region”, said Coll.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Ranking Member Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) introduced the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act, which Congress passed earlier this year, that will triple non-military assistance to Pakistan to $1.5 billion a year for the next five years.

Committee Chairman Kerry noted that “[U.S.] actions in Afghanistan will influence events in Pakistan and we must take that into account. But the ultimate choices about the country’s future will be made by the Pakistanis themselves.”

Richard Barrett, the UN’s coordinator for the al-Qaida/Taliban sanctions monitoring team for Afghanistan said maintaining the rule of law is the UN’s key objective in the coming months.  He discussed the ongoing consolidation of the suspected terrorist list being drawn together with cooperation from member states at the United Nations.

UN Resolution 1822, adopted by the Security Council in June 2008, cites “terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to peace and security” and seeks to improve transparency among countries and bring suspected terrorists forward.

“What we are looking for is a credible list in the fight against terrorism” H.E. Mr. Thomas Mayr-Harting, Permanent Representative of Austria and Chairman of the al Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee said. “”There is a whole technique in this process, we write to the countries involved, and we wait for their responses. The team also has to provide narrative summaries for why suspected terrorists are initially put on the list.”

The 1267 Committee or Sanctions Committee), which is tasked with consolidating the list of the over 500 suspected terrorists, has a mandate to:

* freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of designated individuals and entities [assets freeze],
* prevent the entry into or transit through their territories by designated individuals
[travel ban], and
* prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale and transfer from their territories or by their nationals outside their territories, or using their flag vessels or aircraft, of arms and related materiel of all types, spare parts, and technical advice, assistance, or training related to military activities, to designated individuals and entities [arms embargo].

Additionally, UN Resolution 1822 welcomes continued cooperation with INTERPOL, in particular on the “development of Special Notices, which assists Member States in their implementation of the measures, and recognizing the role of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Implementation Monitoring Team (“the Monitoring Team”) in this regard”.  The Sanction Committee therefore has the right to authorize, enact and implement sanctions in suspected terrorist countries through border patrols and policing systems.

Mr. Barrett, who heads the monitoring team, explained that most of these suspected terrorist names on the list are focused on the Pakistan/Afghan border and in North Africa, where Algeria is listed as the main threat in the region. “There are also increases in recruits further South, namely Mauritania and Niger.” Somalia was also highlighted on the watch list. Barrett added the Afghan border with Iran was recently being examined in regards to drug smuggling.

(video on website)

Advisers from the McCain-Palin campaign held a conference call to criticize an article in the Washington Post that claims that al-Qaida supports John McCain’s election bid.

The article, entitled “On Al-Qaeda Web Sites, Joy Over U.S. Crisis, Support for McCain,” cites a post by a blogger associated with al-Qaida that says that McCain will likely continue the foreign policy of President Bush, and suggests that al-Qaida should support McCain.

Senior Foreign Policy Adviser Randy Scheunemann railed on the Post for writing an article with such a damning headline, and pointed out that the only extremist that is cited in the article is not a leading member of al-Qaida and should not be considered a spokesman for the entire terrorist organization.

Director of Homeland Security at the Center for American Progress Action Fund P.J. Crowley says that we must figure out how dangerous al-Qaida is right now. (0:54)

 

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Foreign policy analyst at the Cato Institute Malou Innocent discusses how the Taliban and al-Qaida have been able to takeover the tribal lands on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan.(0:30)

 

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Specialist in Terrorism and National Security Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade Division John Rollins mentions that the attack on the U.S. embassy in Yemen might have been an attempt to influence the election.

 

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Seven years after the airborne attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center in New York, President Bush, accompanied by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the current Secretary of Defense Robert Gates dedicated memorial to the memory of Pentagon employees and passengers aboard American Airlines Flight 77 which crashed into the building on Sept. 11, 2001.

“We claim this hallowed ground for peace and for healing. We claim it in the affirmation of our strongest belief as a people that every life is precious,” said Gates. The memorial is a series of 184 silver metal benches spread out over a flat park of gravel. Beneath each bench a pool of water reflects the luster of the metal bench that stretches over it. For the ceremony each bench was draped in a blue flag, giving the appearance of a covered casket.

Quoting the poet Robert Frost, Rumsfeld spoke of Sept. 11 as a day that the United States “became acquainted with the night.” Rumsfeld was lauded by the other speakers for his quick actions at the Pentagon on Sept. 11. Speaking of those who died that day he said, “Make no mistake, it was because they were Americans that they were killed in this place.”

Rumsfeld also spoke the the resolve of the American people and of the U.S. military, “We have been acquainted with the night, we have taken it’s measure and in the darkest of times we stood together. In defiance our nation has pressed on toward morning…Our nation will force the dawn.”

Admiral Mike Mullen the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff also spoke to the families of those who died in the Pentagon, “We honor the heart wrenching sacrifice, the quite courage of those who called these souls dad, mom, son, daughter, husband, wife, brother, sister, friend.”

Bush spoke about the wars that have followed the attacks on the Pentagon. “Since Sept. 11 our troops have taken the fight to the terrorists abroad so we do not have to face them here at home,” he said. Shortly after the attacks the U.S. began military operations in Afghanistan to unseat the Taliban government which was harboring the al-Qaida terrorist group that planned and executed the attacks. Thanking the men and women of the U.S. armed forces, Bush noted, “There has not been another attack on our soil in 2,557 days.”

With the newly dedicated memorial and the Pentagon behind him, Sec. Gates spoke of the new meaning of the Department of Defense’s main building. “From this time forward the Pentagon will be more than a symbol of government, more than the seat of military power, it will also be a place of remembrance.”

Salim Hamdan, the defendant at the first military commission since World War II, would still be considered an enemy combatant, subject to detention, regardless of the outcome of his trail. A verdict was expected today out of Guantanamo Bay prison in the case against Hamdan, the former driver and alleged body guard of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. “Even if he were acquitted of the charges that are before him he would still be considered an enemy combatant…and still a danger and would likely still be detained for some period of time thereafter,” said Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell. Morrell explained that Hamdan, if acquitted, can go to a review board, which judges suitability for release or transfer. Also if he is not found guilty, Hamdan may also have the opportunity to challenge his status as an enemy combatant in court.

Morrell said that the Defense Department was pleased that the commission was taking place. “We think that you’ve seen a fair and transparent process,” he said. ‘It was a good first effort…we hope it is the beginning of at least 20 additional trials that will hopefully take place sooner than later down there.

Morrell also addressed recent comments by the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates that the DoD is working toward facilitating more U.S. troops in Afghanistan Morrell emphasized that the situation in Afghanistan is not urgent and that despite the commanders’ request for more ground forces, troop levels in Iraq are not directly tied to a force increase in Afghanistan. “I know much has been made of the correlation between forces coming down in Iraq and going up in Afghanistan and while that certainly would seem to be the most natural transaction to take place, the truth is we’re 2.5 nearly million strong around the world, we have the means to draw forces elsewhere. Whether that be through reserves the [National] Guard or drawing down from other places around the world where we have commitments. ”

Military force may not be the best way to squash terrorist groups said the RAND Corporation at a congressional briefing from the RAND Corporation on factors that cause the end of terrorist groups. The briefing focused particularly on ways in which al-Qaida could be brought down.

Seth Jones, a political scientist at RAND, conducted a study examining 648 terrorist organizations from around the world. Of these, 41 percent have disappeared. The study focused primarily on what led to their demise. Jones said that 48 percent ended by cutting a political deal through negotiations with government, 40 percent through increased police surveillance, 10 percent of the groups succeeded in their aims and 7 percent ended through military force .

Jones said these results show that for the United States to effectively dismantle al-Qaida, negotiation would be far more effective that military action abroad. He also said that because the U.S. spends over 90 percent of its counterterrorism budget on the Department of Defense, it is misallocating its resources and pursuing a strategy that is not effective with the war on terror.